General Declaration

0 Release version

0.1 This Declaration has release version 1.003 and is valid from January 7th 2010.

1 Ranking and terminology used in Declaration

1.1 Network administration (International urban games network Encounter administration) is a limited liability company “Encounter”, founded by Ivan Masliukov (im, id=1) and Konstantin Glushakov (Konstantin, id=2). Administration is also represented by Encounter Co LTD staff or contracted employees. Currently besides the founders of the company, Administration is represented by:

1.3 Domain owner is a private individual or an organization, which registered a new domain name or bought an existing third level domain name on en.cx zone with ownership right to this domain. The domain owner is engaged in overall project development, determines and chooses the Authors for games held on the domain. The domain owner is personally responsible for what happens on the domain to the network administration. The domain owner is also responsible to the participants for the quality of the domain games. In case of active contribution to the domain development, the domain owner receives Orders and Bonuses from the network administration, and can award them to participants on his/her domain.

1.4 A Domain Administrator is a person assigned by the domain owner. Administrator has particular rights on domain, but is not allowed to create or hold games. Administrator of the domain cannot look through past, current or future games scripts.

1.5 An Organizer is a person assigned by the domain owner. Particular rights an organizer has on domain include the right to create and hold games (access to all domain games).

1.6. An Author of game(s) is a participant who personally creates scripts for games or takes part in missions implementation at their locations. All Authors who took part in organization of the game are mentioned in the announcement to the game.

1.7 Team captain is a participant who organized a new team or became captain of an existing team. The captain confirms team participation in upcoming games, gives a list of active participants and represents the interests of team members in the face of Organizer and Domain Owner.

1.8 A Participant is any person registered in Encounter network.

1.9 Legal Framework is a set of rules and regulations that consists of game announcements (made by game Authors), local game rules (formed optionally by Domain Owner), General game regulations (formed by the network administration) and the given General Declaration.

1.10 The Organizers’ team consists of participants who were engaged in organizing games, competitions and various events. The organizers team includes games authors, domain administrators and owners.

2 The concept of Encounter international active urban games network.

2.1 On one hand, the Encounter international active urban games network is a complete minimized model of an actual society – it has its history, legislation, science, culture and art. There are legends and heroes within it.

2.2 On the other hand, Encounter is a social network. It is a community of extraordinary, cheerful and active people, where everyone is longing to reveal their best qualities and strives for development of thinking skills through active urban games that abound in puzzles and tasks.

2.3 On the other point Encounter is a unique and exclusive software complex. This is due the fact that network administration and software developers were inventors and authors of the majority of ideas, technologies and concepts that were implemented in the network.

2.4 The main values of the network are Desires, Opportunities and Liberties. The network administration gives opportunities and provides with liberties those who desire to become a participant, an author, an organizer or a domain owner.

2.5 Along with opportunities provided, the network administration sets regulations for their provision. These regulations are stated in the Legal Framework and primarily in this Declaration. Each domain owner, organizer, author and participant must be aware of content and comply with regulations of this Declaration, as a fundamental act, which regulates the interaction structure of the network.

2.6 The network administration makes all efforts to create the most precise, clear and transparent Legal Framework. But it should be understood that because of the exclusiveness and originality of the project this Declaration and the whole legal framework are constantly under improvement. They get updated thanks to the experience accumulated from the Encounter international active urban games network.

2.6.1 In case a situation not described in the Legal framework occurs, every disputable issue gets separately solved by the Organizers’ team, acting on the premises of logic thinking and past experience.

2.6.2 In the case of repeated recurrence of a particular conflict situation (precedent), the network administration creates a rule, where the procedures for either party are described. If this rule concerns a single game – it is appended to the rules of the game. In case it applies to the whole project, it is appended to this Declaration and a new edition of the General Declaration gets published.

2.6.3 The game announcements supported by game terms are the legitimate rules (relating to only one specific game) which have equal validity with the Local and the General game Regulations, but in the event of discrepancies between them, have a greater effect. This means the priority of the game terms increases from global to local: the terms of the game take precedence over Local game rules (if formed by the domain owner), and the Local rules have precedence over the General Regulations. One should consider the priority of General Declaration over all other rules (general or local), procedures and terms. Any deviation from the General Declaration is not valid.

2.6.3.1 If there is a zero bonus level (a level that takes place before the game start) indicated in the game announcement, the terms to winning this level should also be indicated. Unless otherwise specified, Local and General Regulations (with penalties and bonuses regulations) apply to the zero level. Thus zero level is considered part of the game by default. In case a participant or a team wins the zero bonus level, then they cannot be refused the right to play the game that had this bonus level in its announcement. If a participant or a team that won the bonus level refuses to participate in the upcoming game voluntarily, they do not receive a refund for the participation fee (if any).

2.6.4. In case a member of Organizers’ team has suggested prohibitions or restrictions (in the game announcement or local regulations), but hasn’t indicated a preventive measure (penalties) for violations of prohibitions, these measures are determined by the Organizers’ team at its discretion. The network administration does not require, but strongly recommends to specify the acceptable preventive measures for violating or violated prohibitions or restrictions.

2.7 The network includes a variety of active urban games. The vast majority of games takes place in the real world, that is, requires actions of participants in the real world; these games include "Combat", "Points", "Photohunt", "PhotoExtreme", "Videohunt", "GeoCaching", "Wet Wars". Game "Brainstorming" is virtual, so the participant doesn’t have to leave his place (office or any other place with the internet access).

2.8 Some of the games like "Combat", "Points", "GeoCaching" and "Wet Wars" require the actual presence of the participants in the city (town) where the games take place. The "Photohunt", "PhotoExtreme" and "Videohunt" games can be played in one’s location, even if the game has been announced in a different city or country, for the tasks are geographically universal and independent from the geography of a particular place.

2.9 For the appropriate and unbiased representation of skill level of the each game author, a Quality Index (QI) for each corresponding game was developed. The Quality Index is calculated as a simple average of every type of the games created by an author, and also according to game quality evaluation made by participants of the games.

2.10 In order to identify the participants, a certification system has been developed. To obtain a certificate, a participant should confirm his/her mobile phone number and upload an image of an identification document. It is an obligatory condition for participating in some of the game types, such as Wet Wars (due to the specific character of the game). Only certified participants have the right to lodge a complaint to the network administrators. The administration gives more credit to certified participants.

2.11 A ranking system has been developed in order to recognize experience of a participant in any game. After the game ends, those participants who get into the top 10 list obtain points. Also the participants can be granted points by the domain owner or by the network administration.

2.11.1 Participants receive various ranks, depending on the number of points obtained:

2.11.2 Private soldier from 0 to 10 points

2.11.3 Junior sergeant from 10 to 25 points

2.11.4 Sergeant from 25 to 50 points

2.11.5 Senior sergeant from 50 to 100 points

2.11.6 Junior lieutenant from 100 to 150 points

2.11.7 Lieutenant from 150 to 300 points

2.11.8 Senior lieutenant from 300 to 500 points

2.11.9 Captain from 500 to 1000 points

2.11.10 Major from 1000 to 1500 points

2.11.11 Lieutenant colonel from 1500 to 3000 points

2.11.12 Colonel from 3000 to 5000 points

2.11.13 Colonel-general from 5000 points and more

2.11.14 These ranks influence the way players are rated for the games, and generally display the level of a participant’s experience.

3 The Encounter game application software and domain space

3.1 The Encounter game application platform is a full set of application software on basis of which the whole network works. The network contains:

3.1.1 The general info page located at http://en.cx

3.1.2 Info site for Domain owners and Organizers at http://en-world.org

3.1.3 All the third level domains e.g. name.en.cx registered on the network.

3.2 The content of http://en.cx and http://world.en.cx sites is specified exclusively by the network administration. The content of the third level domains is specified partly by the network administration (the application platform) and partly by Domain owners (the actual domain content: games, news and announcements, page design etc.)

3.3 The third level domain world.en.cx is under the network administration authority. Official international games and competitions are held on this domain.

3.4 Most of the games on the majority of domains take place in actual places, so usually each domain is anchored to a city or a country. But there are domains where games are held only virtually, those domains are placed in the “Virtual” category.

3.5 The software applications of every game type are absolutely identical on every domain. Therefore, if the Encounter application platform is updated, then all the domains get updated simultaneously, except for demo.en.cx domain, which is out of the common network and has a separate database. This domain is created for testing the updates for the application platform. The example.en.cx domain is the demo of the platform performance.

3.6 The changes and addons to the application platform can only be implemented by the network administration (except for the part of site design, where a domain owner is able to alter the html code without any confirmation from the network administration). During the upgrade of the platform all the domains become unavailable, therefore the network administration tries to coordinate their actions according to the game calendar, so that no active games are held at the moment of the upgrade.

3.7 The network administration does all in their power to provide stable work of servers hosting the Encounter application platform. However, the administration cannot and does not guarantee fail-safe work of the hardware. There are certain factors that affect the stability of hardware that cannot be controlled by the network administration.

3.8 The software platform is provided “as is” and with all services available at the moment of disposal. The network administration is not responsible for the exploitation of the Encounter application platform by a Domain owner, does not compensate, repay or refund losses (including the loss of profit) that occur during the exploitation (due to renunciation of service) of the Encounter network platform.

4 Domain rating

4.1 For a proper and unbiased popularity and activity representation of every domain, an 8 grade (0 to 7 stars) Domain Ranking has been developed.

4.2 Domain activity for the last 90 days is the criteria taken into account in the Ranking.

4.3 There are several Domain activity criteria counted; in order to obtain the next star all these criteria should be matched. Due to this fact, the rapid increase in one of the criteria (like domain traffic) does not provide rating growth. Any domain can get maximum rating regardless of the type of games held on it.

4.4 Domain rate stats get updated Mondays 6 am GMT 0.

4.5 Rank formula is non-public information. This is made to eliminate targeted cheats made to indicators of activity. The domain rate should only represent the activity – this means it should be an effect and natural indicator resulting from the quality games and fair home policy of the domain.

4.6 The domain rates can be seen in the Network Geography and above the logo in every domain (upper left corner).

5 Network Administration status

5.1 The network administration is busy creating opportunities and highly prioritizes this process. The “natural selection” policy in the project works as the global supervising authority. This means that the authors who make poor quality games and the negligent domain owners who accept biased and unfair decisions (except for obvious and unambiguous violation of the General Declaration rules, described in paragraph 9) are responsible for their actions through the outflow of the playing audience. Thus time puts everything in its right place – fair domain owners maintain dignity and gain respect among participants, get their domain highly rated, while unscrupulous organizers are left with no audience.

5.2 The network administration provides post-game quality control (after games are completed). In the Encounter project such activity is conducted in case the participants have claims and complaints about the quality of organizational procedures and the games themselves. The administration is only responsible for the games held on world.en.cx domain. Even if none of the administrators played role of the game author, a pre-testing (preliminary control) of the game is conducted. Pre-testing implies study, editing and moderation of game scenario.

5.3 Though the network administration has developed General game regulations, Domain owners are granted a permit to make amendments and alterations or present various interpretations of the regulations. In case any changes are made by the Domain owner, he/she is obliged to draw up Local regulations with clear and full indication of how these Local rules are different from General regulations. The Local rules have precedence over the General Regulations, but should not contradict the spirit and idea of the project. If such contradiction is discovered by the network administration, the domain owner is due to make changes to his rules at the first request by administration.

5.4 Any participant, organizer or domain owner can appeal with questions, ideas and propositions or ask for assistance from the network administration and will receive an exhaustive response.

6 Domain owner status

6.1 Third level domain “name.en.cx” is the competence of a Domain owner. Domain owner has the right to legally formalize the domain as a form of ownership and obtain a standard form certificate of domain registration. A person may own several domains, while one domain can only have a single owner.

6.2 Domain owner takes jurisdiction immediately after registering a new domain or purchasing an existing domain.

6.3 Domain owner is obliged to look after the participants in his/her domain. This implies representing their interests in front of the Network Administration and fair and timely settlement of conflicts between the participants and authors. Domain owner should pay special attention to quality and safety at the games taking place on his domain.

6.4 The Domain Owners who successfully develop games on their domains should expect receiving various bonuses form the network administration. Bonuses are granted to Domain owners according to the Bonus table. Bonuses are based on the current Domains’ ratings. The not-complete list of bonuses contains: bonus points and orders freely distributed by domain owners, discounts for prevailing text and banner advertising.
6.5 Several Domain Owners may reside in one city. Domain owners have to show respect for each other, be friendly and look for optimal ways for collaboration and cooperation.

6.6 If Domain Owner has a positive balance on his account, he/she has the right to lease, transfer for temporary use, give away, pledge, entrust or sell his/her domain.

7 The Organizers’ team status

7.1 A Domain owner has an opportunity to allot various Rights to the delegate participants through the Administrator interface. A participant that has at least one right on the domain acquires the status of Administrator. Once a participant becomes administrator, he agrees to carry the honor and dignity of this status, and guarantees not to exceed authority and honestly implement his/her obligations.

7.2 Any willing participant can be a game author after receiving confirmation from the domain owner.

7.3 Game Authors are responsible for preparing and holding the games – they are fully responsible for the quality of their game.

7.4 All the information concerning an upcoming game is divided in public and non-public (private).

7.5 The game announcement is public info. Before the game starts it is the only public information available. In the game announcement Authors display all the requirements for participation and all the differences from Local or General Regulations (if such ones exist). The main game requirements cannot be edited after 24 hours prior the game start. The game authors must provide all participants with all the public info available simultaneously.

7.6 Non-public info is Game Scenario and some other information that, if revealed, could simplify the process of completing the game. The game authors who share any private information (for official purposes) should mention that it is non-public and cannot be revealed. The non-public information can only be shared with the individuals who directly take part in game organizing and require this information to perform their organizational tasks. The game authors are not authorized to publicly reveal the private information, even if it may clearly seem that none of the upcoming game participants is present.

7.6.1 A participant who received non-public information from the organizers must keep it secret and use it for official purposes (determined by the game authors) only. Disclosure of non-public information may be punishable.

7.7 Game authors are responsible for safety at their games. SECURITY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITY; NOTHING CAN BE PLACED ABOVE SAFETY AT THE GAMES. Game authors should thoroughly study the objects and the area where the games will be held. In case of discovery of any unsafe area, the game authors are obliged to mark that area (with writings, stickers or barrier tape) with words “No code here” or “STOP-EN!”

7.8 The game authors of the open area games are strictly prohibited:

7.8.1 Use the objects (for the game) with wires leading from transformer unit or electrical control unit (even if it seems that they are not under voltage).

7.8.2 Use secured objects for the game, unless the security workers are given advance notice about holding a game on their object and a written permission is granted from the administration of the secured object.

7.9 In case the game authors organize a level that requires special training for the participants (diving, rock climbing etc.), the authors must use service of qualified specialists (training staff or instructors) only. These specialists should run pre-game training and provide all necessary safety equipment and support during the specific levels.

7.10 The game authors have to provide such game conditions, under which participants wouldn’t be breaking any local or state laws.

7.11 After the end of the game authors should be ready to accept all claims and hear out criticism (if any) from the participants. In case there are conflicts, the authors should first clarify them, and only then present the game results. While resolving the conflicts authors should not be guided by personal attitude to the participants.

7.12 The game authors should accept any rate they receive from the game participants, even if their game gets rated with zero points. Zero should be taken as the least possible point of rating. The game authors cannot disqualify the team that rated the game with zero points. The participants should not under any conditions be guided by their personal attitude towards the authors while rating the game. The game authors have the right to exclude the participant (team) from participation in further games by these authors, if they believe to have been underrated by this team (see p.7.13).

7.13 The game authors have the right to independently assign the audience for the game they create.

7.14 The game can be made for a single person or a team (e.g. personal “combat”), or for teams, communities, companies or government organizations (corporate games).

7.15 The game authors have the right to deny any team (participant) access to the game without giving any reason or explanation (except for the case described in p. 2.6.3.1).

7.16 In case the series of games are united into a championship, the organizer has the right to choose which team or participants to exclude from all or any of the games. But after a team or a participant has played at least one game of the championship, the Domain owner cannot exclude them from playing the rest of the games in the championship. Nevertheless, the domain owner has the right to disqualify a team/participant from certain championship games on standard grounds.

7.17 If there are any peculiar game terms that contradict the Local and General regulations, they have to be indicated in the announcement by the game authors with the concurrence of the Domain owner. In this case, the authors still have to comply with the game-organizing regulations of this Declaration.

7.18 The game authors (on their own or by agreement with the Domain owner) determine the participation fees; fix the amounts of prize fund. Independently of the size of participation fees, authors make fixed payments to the Network administration.

7.19 The Organizers’ team of each domain has the right for partial alteration of their domain page design. They can place ads of their sponsors and partners on the domain page or mount their corporate/brand colours onto domain pages.

7.20 The Organizers’ team has the right to advertise other projects of similar nature (urban games) only if the equivalent advertising of Encounter is placed on external project pages.

7.21 The network administration provides personal information on registered users of the domain to the Organizers’ team of this domain.

7.22 The Organizers’ team has the right to manufacture, distribute and sell souvenirs (T-shirts, mugs, stickers, badges, posters, etc.) using the Encounter network logo without any restrictions and extra charges from the Network Administration.

7.23 The Organizers’ team has the right to place any participant to the blacklist (ban from authorization on their domain) without explanation.

7.24 The Organizers’ team is in power to sign to their domain migrants and escapees from other domains, by accepting the “change of residence” requests from the participants.

8 The Participant status

8.1 Every person registered in the Encounter network becomes the project Participant. The participant is subject to the rights and obligations resulting from the Game regulations and this General Declaration.

8.2 Every participant has his/her residence (is listed to a crew of particular domain) and thus is under the surveillance of the Domain owner. Being under the domain competence (signed to the domain), the participant allows access to his/her personal profile by the Organizers’ team.

8.3 In case any conflicts or disputable issues may arise, the participant has the right to expect just and timely decisions and actions on part of the Game authors, the Domain owner and the network Administration.

8.4 A participant signed to any domain can authorize in any domain and take part in any game in any city or state. If a participant was put into the blacklist of any of the domains, he/she cannot authorize in this particular domain and take part in the games held on this domain.

8.4.1 The participant has the right to relocate to another domain. In order to do that, he/she has to request for change of residence (in the menu of Profile - Residence). The application for the change of residence is reviewed and approved by the Organizers’ team of the domain, to which the participant wants to move.

8.5 The participation in games is 100% voluntary.

8.6 By taking part in the extreme games, every participant has to evaluate the extent of risks and estimate the probability of injuring physically or/and mentally during every level. THE DECISION WHETHER TO PERFORM THE TASK OR NOT IS MADE BY EVERY PARTICIPANT PERSONALLY. BY TAKING PART IN THE GAME, A PARTICIPANT GUARANTEES THAT HE/SHE APPLIES TO ONE’S OWN CLEAR MIND AND COMMON SENSE. Some games have age restrictions: one should be 18 and over to play the Combat game (field players); one should be 16 and over to play Wet wars.

8.7 If there are several domains in one city, a participant has the right to choose the domain and the game authors, whose games he/she will take part in. At this point the participant should be aware of the fact that the authors have the right to choose the audience of the game. Any of the participants may not be allowed to take part in any of the games without explanations.

8.8 Any participant who violates the terms stated in the game announcement or the Local/General Regulations and this Declaration terms may be exiled to Siberia by the Owner of the participant’s residence domain. The network administration is in power to exile any participant independently of one’s domain residence. The exile to Siberia means compulsory change of residence to siberia.en.cx domain and inability for the exile to authorize on any other domains. Explicit language and some other limited outrage are allowed on the siberia.en.cx domain. In case the exiled participant does not agree with this measure, he/she can file a complaint to the network administration (in such case participants who don’t have a Certificate can expect their complaints to be reviewed as well).

8.9 If a participant voluntarily signed to be exiled to Siberia, he/she then can be relocated back to the previous domain for 99 EN-money (after the money transfer to the project Administration account is complete).

8.10 The complete account removal is impossible. The only alternative is voluntary or compulsory exile to Siberia.

8.11 The participant has the right to create his/her own team or enter the existing one. There are no limitations on leaving one team and entering another one.

8.12 If the participant has become the team captain, he/she has to represent the interests of the team in the face of the Game authors, the Domain owner and the network Administration. During the conflict of interests the captain’s opinion (decision), expressed to the Organizers’ team, is considered to be the opinion (decision) of the team.

8.13 The captain has the right to delegate his status to any member of the team. If the status was passed voluntarily (the captain signed in on the domain and pressed the “pass captain permission” button) then retrieving this status is only possible through the new Captain. Thereby, the captain status should be transferred to trusted person, if the team captain only wants to temporarily delegate his/her rights. All the responsibility for this action is taken solely by the captain.

8.14 All the team may be answerable to the acts of violations committed by one of the team members.

8.15 If a person hasn’t signed in for more than 12 months, the network administration is in power to change this person’s profile name (so that another person could use the old profile name).

9 Penalties against Organizers’ team

9.1 In case of violations of the domain ownership terms, game organizing regulations or any other terms and conditions described in this Declaration, the network Administration can impose the following penalties on Organizers’ team:

9.1.4 Domain confiscation with the ownership transfer to the network Administration.

9.2 In every particular case the penalties are determined by the network Administration on a case-by-case basis. The Administration also takes into consideration the unique factors and conditions under which the violation took place.

9.3 Domain owner could be subject to the penalty stated in p. 9.1.4 in case of:

9.3.1 Not a single game has been held on the domain during the last 90 (ninety) days (The game takes place the moment the game starts).

9.3.2 The domain owner has negative (overdraft) payment balance for 60 (sixty) or more days in a row.

9.4 The Organizers’ team members (including the Domain owner) are also subject to penalties described in p. 9.1.1-4 in case when an Organizers’ team member:

9.4.1 Systematically and groundlessly employs abusive language (on forums or in private) towards participants, other members of Organizers’ team, partners and sponsors.

9.4.2 Creates and holds easy games for the malicious purpose of gaining quick points by participants.

9.4.3 Falsifies and distributes official Orders to the participants.

9.4.4 Intentionally conceals (on field play) any potential or actual hazards, that may lead to injury or death of the participants.

9.4.5 Creates levels or tasks, implementation of which is impossible without violation of local or state laws (including the driving regulations).

9.4.6 Violates the game holding regulations (groundless team disqualification, bonuses and penalties etc.) to forge the game results.

9.4.7 Decreases or displays incorrect amount of participation fee in order to avoid deductions for the network Administration. By default the participation fee is indicated in EN-money (for more information see p.12).

9.4.8 Holds the game on the platform that obviously does not correspond to the declared format of the game (i.e. “Combat” on “Brainstorming” platform or single player mode on team play game). The new and pilot game formats (that don’t have a correspondent type of platform in the project yet) are an exception to this rule.

9.4.9 Holds games or activities (competitions) to undermine the public image of the project – i.e. the games/competitions appeal to violence or race/religious discord or discrimination.

9.4.10 Acts unfairly towards the Domain owners – spreads disinformation on part of other domains, produces harmful acts to intentionally discriminate Domain owners, spoil the games or derange the activities and competitions held in other domains.

9.4.11 Places the advertising of other projects of similar nature (urban games), except for when the equivalent advertising of Encounter is placed on external project pages.

9.4.12 Does not grant the game winner the prize fund in 10 days (240 hours) after the end of the game. The prize fund is indicated in the game announcement. It is the percent share of the total fees paid for participation; a fixed amount earned by the winner. If the prize fund is divided into several parts (several prize winning positions), it should be announced beforehand (before the game starts) by the organizer. This prize fund in the announcement should display prize money for the 1st place winner, while the additional prize funds should be indicated in the "detailed description" of the game.

9.4.13 Misleads the site visitors about the domain rating by forging the image that displays current domain rating (top left corner). The domain owner has the right to hide the image that contains domain rating data (using the option of altering the site design). But it is prohibited to switch this image to another one with domain rating different from current one.

9.4.14 Rips-off the complete abstracts of the task descriptions or scenarios from other domains without their authors’ authorization. There is an exception – public Library ideas of real levels. All the ideas published there have open access. The access to the Library is granted to the domain admins by the domain owner.

9.4.15 Takes part in a game being intoxicated with drugs or alcohol.

9.4.16 Introduces a new member to the Board of judges without his/her agreement to act as a judge at the game. The crew members of Board of judges can only be indicated in the game announcement after the authors were given a written/oral consent from the members. The list of Board of judges cannot be edited after 24 hours before the game – the participants have the right to know who they will be judged by.

9.5 In case the Organizes’ team members violated any state laws while organizing and/or conducting the game, they are in full responsibility for their actions in accordance to the administrative or criminal laws of the country where the game occurred. The network administration, often being thousands miles away from where the games take place, cannot physically affect the actions of the Organizers’ teams. Thus, the network administration is not liable for the actions of the individuals who take part in organization of the games at any location.

10 Penalties against Participants

10.1 The Organizers’ team can impose various penalties on the Participants. Within a game the Participants may receive gaming penalties or be disqualified. Other penalties for Participants are placing in the domain blacklist and exile to Siberia (siberia.en.cx). The network Administration has the right to impose all of the above penalties as well as revoking gaming points. These penalties may be imposed for the following reasons:

10.1.1 Gross violation of game terms specified in announcement, violation of the domain General or Local regulations, the violation of the participation terms of the Declaration.

10.1.2 Gross violation of safety rules for the game, which could lead to or resulted in injury of a participant. Repeated disregard for implementing the recommendations on safety measures given by Game authors.

10.1.3 Repeated public insults of Game author(s), organizer(s), Domain owner(s) or partners and sponsors on forum, briefing, during the game or on the awarding party.

10.1.5 Failure to provide first aid to the injured player (first aid should be provided to the extent of the relevant level of qualification and training).

10.1.6 Organization of an insolent provocation which led to the withdrawal of a level or cancellation of the game.

10.1.7 Distribution of non-public information (obtained for the official purposes from the Game organizers) about the upcoming game.

10.1.7.1 Failure to notify Game authors about unintentionally accessing non-public information considering upcoming games. The participant does not have to inform about how the non-public info was disclosed.

10.1.8 Overt or covert campaign for a similar game projects during the game.

10.1.9 Fake profile data that was intentionally submitted by the participant during registration.

10.1.10 Lack of presence on the project by participant (no signing in) during the last twelve months.

10.1.11 Public discussion of the game on external or local forums, with direct or indirect reference to the nature of tasks, ways of solving them, answers and locations prior to official end of the game.

10.1.12 Reporting false evidence deliberately to the network Administration or Organizers’ team; information misrepresentation (including the actions sequence data) while handling the conflicts; and publication of untrue assertions. Lack of information about any situation or occurrence does not mean you’re not responsible for your words: don't assert that which you don't know.

10.1.13 Personal request by participant for exile to Siberia.

10.2 The domain owner who exiles a participant to Siberia should specify the sub-paragraph of the Declaration’s 10th point (or post the full content of this sub- paragraph), according to which the Participant is being sent to Siberia. The exile to Siberia may be either lifelong or temporary.
In the case exile is temporary, the exiled participant automatically returns from Siberia to the previously resided domain on the expiration date.

10.2.1 If the domain owner failed to specify the sub-paragraph or its full content, the participant may be pardoned and signed to the world.en.cx domain as a refugee.

10.2.2 If the participant was exiled to Siberia for an insult, he/she may be pardoned by the network Administration after bringing apologies in a form required by insulted party; and only with consent of the insulted party. The pardon is acceptable in other cases as well (by decision of the network Administration) if the aggrieved party will report the issue to be settled.

10.3 A Participant, penalized with domain blacklisting or exile to Siberia, is prohibited from circumventing punishment by creating clone accounts and participating in his domain games before the expiration of his sentence. If these regulations are violated the participant may be subject to more severe penalty and/or increase of the sentence term. If the team captain was aware of restrictions to join games imposed on one of his team’s participant, but nevertheless accepted the participant to the game (actual event participation, even if not displaying it on the game domain), the Organizers’ team can take decision to penalize the whole team.

11 Penalties imposition and appealing

11.1 The solutions on controversial issues within a single game are taken directly be Game authors. The complaints about participants of the game are sent to the Game authors. The authors should provide a solution to the issue within 48 (forty eight) hours. The solution by the authors of the game may be appealed against to the Domain owner (also a complaint may be filed if the authors don’t offer a solution to the known issue within 48 hours). The game authors’ solution cannot get appealed against to the network Administration before the appeal to the Domain owner and receiving his/her solution within 7 days.

11.2 The solution by the authors may be either withdrawn or upheld by the Domain owner, provided that he/she wasn’t directly taking part in the game. Otherwise the Domain owner as a participant has no right to influence the Game authors’ decisions; in this case the solutions to the issues may only be appealed against to the network Administration. If the Domain owner was one of the Game authors, then their solution may be appealed against to the Administration as well.

11.3 The solution taken by the Domain owner can be appealed against to the network Administration.

11.4 The appellation against actions or inactions by Organizers’ team can be filed to the network Administration by any certified participant. The issue has to be thoroughly described with facts only, omitting any guesswork or assumptions. If an issue requires evidence by witness, there should be a record with at least 2 (two) login names of certified participants who are able to confirm the facts mentioned in the complaint. The only formal way to file a complaint is the EN-mail.

11.5 The person who files a complaint is responsible for obtaining evidence and material as arguments against the accused person or for illegitimacy of the specified solution taken by the Organizers’ team.

11.6 The complaint may be examined by the network administration as long as it takes to provide a solution. If there is not enough evidence for illegitimacy of the solution by the Organizers’ team, then the solution provided is upheld by the network Administration.

11.7 During the examination of a complaint against any one of the Organizers’ team, the network Administration may assume that the solution (decision) taken by Administrator is acceptable. The Organizer’s solution to the issue may be upheld even if it may contradict with the Administration’s point of view on the issue. The network administration interferes in the decision making by the Organizers’ team only if the decision taken does not comply with the regulations from the Legal Framework. Thus it is acceptable that Administration will allow distinct solutions to be taken by different organizers’ teams in separate situations with similar circumstances. This may occur due to the fact that the Organizers’ team is more aware of the situation being present at the games while the network administration trusts the organizers by default and follows the regulations described in p.5.1. It should be also noted that the network administration considers punishing an innocent to be greater evil than not punishing the guilty.

11.8 If necessary the network administration may set up an online live arbitrary session through Skype.

11.8.1 The following parties should be present at the arbitrary session:

11.8.1.1 A representative of the network administration – the chairman of the arbitrary session;

11.8.1.2 All the direct parties of the conflict. None of the parties can be “prosecutor” or “defendant” as in practice both counterparties have claims and allegations against each other;

11.8.1.3 Eyewitnesses (1-2 individuals from each party).

11.8.2 Terms of holding the arbitrary session:

11.8.2.1 The chairman of the arbitrary session appoints the exact time for the parties (except the witnesses) to log on Skype and stay logged on. The presence of the witnesses is desirable but not necessary, as they may be questioned later.

11.8.2.2 The chairman has to examine the files presented for the case before the session and should be aware of the parties’ claims.

11.8.2.3 The chairman successively asks questions to all the parties of the conflict. The parties must not interrupt the chairman and other parties and wait before their turn to say.

11.8.2.4 The chairman does not have to pass judgement by the end of the session.

11.8.2.5 The chairman of the arbitrary session has the right to appoint an extra session, if not all of the important details and reasons of the case get reviewed during the first session.

11.8.2.6 The chairman of the arbitrary court passes judgement to all the parties either after the end of the arbitrary session on Skype or after a while on the EN-mail.

12 The financial body

12.1 The financial body of the Encounter project is the tool that allows providing payments based on electronic monetary units (hereinafter referred to as EN-money).

12.2 Encounter LTD is the issuer of EN-money. EN-money is solely accepted by Encounter LTD as payment for various services provided by the project.

12.3 EN-money is equal to US dollars. When transferred from e-account with the currency equivalent to USD (e.g. WMZ), the equal amount is transferred to EN-account. If your account is in any other currency, like EURO, then it is transferred in dollars according to rates set by the network administration (average world currency rate taken)

12.4 Each participant has two personal accounts: the W-account that allows withdrawals and the N-account without the option of withdrawal. Withdrawal option means you can withdraw funds from the EN-money system and transfer them to other electronic accounts (Webmoney, W1, 2pay).

12.5 The money transferred by a participant is deposited to the N-account. This procedure is called balance refill. If a participant transfers funds from any of the Encounter domains, the funds get deposited automatically and almost instantly. The direct transfers (not through the Encounter site) are invalid.

12.6 In case the participation fees were paid with EN-money, part of the prize funds is acquired to the W-account of the winner (a participant or a team captain). The rest of the prize funds are deposited to the W-account of the participant who formed the game announcement (after the game is over, the points were distributed and prize funds acquired).

12.7 The no-commission transfers between participants are available within the financial system of Encounter. If the funds are transferred from the W-account – they appear on the W-account of the recipient. If they are transferred from the N-account – they appear on the N-account. Fund transfers from inconsistent account types (W to N and vice-versa) are not allowed.

12.8 The payments for services offered by the Encounter network are made according to the existing price rates. The payments between Domain owners and network Administration can only be made in EN-money. The Domain owners can payment methods for charging participation fees (cash or e-payments).

12.9 All paid services from Encounter network are available upon prepayment only.

12.10 The person who makes an upcoming game announcement (usually the game Author) is charged minimum fee for creating the domain game. In case the fixed percent rate from the amount of collected participation fees exceeds the minimum fee for creating the game, the surplus is extracted from the announcer’s (Author’s) account after the game results are published.

12.11 If after publishing the game results the Domain owner’s account balance is overdrawn (less than zero), the features like making announcements, editing or holding games become disabled on the domain. The domain owner should liquidate the overdraft to enable possibility of holding domain games.

12.12 After the game is complete the Organizer confirms that the game was a success (announces game complete). In case the participation fees were paid with EN-money, part of the prize funds is acquired to the W-account of the winner (a participant or a team captain). The rest of the prize funds are deposited to the W-account of the participant who formed the game announcement (after the game is over, the points were distributed and prize funds acquired).

12.13 If a game was by any reasons deranged, it is impossible to determine the winner or the fact of winning by one of the teams (participants) is disputed by other participants (teams), then the Organizer has the right to announce the game failed. In this case the EN-money collected as fees for the game gets fully reimbursed. If the fees were charged in cash, they remain in game Authors’ disposal, and the Authors may decide whether to make full or partial refunds.

12.14 If the game is removed from domain by the Organizer (before it starts), then the fee amount for creating the game is automatically retrieved to the announcer’s account. If the game actually started, then it is impossible to delete, therefore the fee amount for creating game is not retrievable, even if no one took part in the game. The domain owners should either postpone games in proper time or remove games if they don’t receive enough confirmations for participation.

13 Encounter Orders

13.1 Participants are awarded Encounter orders for distinguished services in project development and/or for outstanding success in Local championships, international games and competitions.

13.2 The Orders are instituted and issued solely by the Encounter network Administration. Forging orders is prohibited and punishable by lifelong exile to Siberia (http://siberia.en.cx).

13.3 Orders are delegated to Domain owners according to the Bonus table basing on each Domain’s rating.

13.4 The Domain owner has the right to solely determine the reasons for awarding a participant or a team (personal merits or victory in a game or championship).

13.5 The network administration has the right to delegate orders for International games and competitions as well as find other reasons for awarding orders.

14 Organizers actions in case of emergency during games and off-game force majeure

14.1 The main priority of the Organizers team during games is provision of the appropriate security measures.

14.2 The in-game force majeure situations are the ones that resulted in heavy injury or death of the participant or the conditions that had grave consequences.

14.2 In case of emergency situations Participants, team Captains, game Authors, Administrators, Organizers, Domain owners who are located in the area of the incident should direct all their resources to provide medical assistance for the injured, rescuing Participants, delivering them to the local medical institutions for qualified help.

14.3 In case of in-game emergency situation, which led to accidental death of a participant, the game should be immediately set at halt. The funds collected from game participation fees should be transferred to relatives of the accident victim.

14.4 In case of emergency situation the game authors should immediately inform the owner of the domain where the game is set up. The domain owner should inform the Network administration (at least send a message via EN-mail).

14.5 The domain owner should promptly post the information about emergency accidents on the domain page (in the news section or on forum), publishing the actual facts only. The domain owner should inform the public about the current events and keep the news up to date using reliable sources.

14.6 If the emergency situation resulted from the game authors’ negligence at ensuring the proper safety level and taking precautions – the game authors bear administrative and criminal responsibility.

14.7 The domain owner at whose domain the game was held is only responsible to the network administration.

14.8 The network administration seeks to inform the entire Encounter community about all the accidents that occur during the events on the Encounter network. Such material publishing is for the informational purposes and serves as a reminder for participants and authors to take safety precautions seriously.

14.9 In case of unforeseen circumstances – natural disasters, fire, earthquakes, and war – the network administration is not responsible for the servers’ performance issues. Thus does not assume any liability for its obligations to the owners of the domain, the game authors and participants.

15 Content usage policy

15.1 Any content of the Encounter project (*.en.cx, en-world.org) are under ownership rights. Story text, image, photo, music video, video file have owners (designers, creators). The major part of the content is created by the network Administration and the rest is created by Domain owners, Organizers, Game authors and Participants.

15.2 Any person willing to use any part of the content from the Encounter project should acquire a confirmation text to do so from the content owner (rightholder). The confirmation letter/file should contain the terms of usage of the content. The owner (rightholder) of the content can be found through the network Administration.

15.3 By uploading any external content on the Encounter project servers, the rightholder takes full responsibility for compliance with the authorship, proprietary, non-proprietary and allied rights.

15.4 The network administration has nonexclusive right to use any content uploaded to the project server in compliance with all the rights. The usage implies copying, reproducing, performing, editing and distributing (etc.) for any purposes.

15.5 It is obvious that on one hand, ideas are not protected by copyright law anywhere in the world, but on the other hand the world is full of ideas and lacks the people who can implement these ideas. We consider any idea shared with us to be a gift. The network administration reserves the right to either express gratitude in any form or not to express gratitude at all.

16 Validity of the Declaration

16.1 This edition of the General declaration is valid until the publication of a newer edition on the website at http://world.en.cx/Manifest.aspx. The network administration reserves the right to edit and append to the Declaration. Significant and fundamental changes made in the Declaration body are informed upon to the entire EN network via global Publications. Every person signing up to the network has to accept the declaration terms or decline it and leave the Encounter network.

16.2 This declaration is valid only within the International Encounter network and only while the network exists.